“Has your house flooded? How many feet did you have running through your house?”
These were the questions each West U City Council member were asked by a Case Street resident who is fed up with flooding in her neighborhood.
“You really don’t understand,” Jeanne King said. “You all don’t live there, you don’t feel our pain.”
Many residents are asking the city what is being done about a flood restrictor that’s causing flooding in downstream areas of West U. Six residents came before council on Sept. 28, seeking answers. Mayor Bob Kelly urged the residents to come to last night’s meeting and address council with their comments.
“If we have to swim down our street to get to our homes, we don’t need sidewalks, lights, the cops can’t get there, the fire trucks can’t get there,” King said.
The city has been working with the Harris County Flood Control District to remove the restrictor from the end of the pipe at Poor Farm Ditch and is waiting to get allocation for the Meyer Track detention pond.
On Oct. 1, City Manager Michael Ross sent a comprehensive report on the history and status of the College Street Drainage Project to residents. To read the report, click here.
“I hope you can appreciate the progress that has been made,” Ross said. “There’s a two year project in the ground. You have two hours worth of work left for the restrictor to come out.”
The restrictor has to remain in place until the allocation of the detention pond occurs, he said.
“Be a little more patient,” Kelly said. “Give us a little more time. I am not going to leave council without this thing getting resolved.”
Marquette Street resident Dan Krocker said the residents need to know council’s strategy and to let them know if they need to stand down or be a voice.
Councilmember Steven Segal responded to Krocker’s comment and said that he thinks the residents need to stand down.
“We’re not trying to hide the ball,” said Segal, who pointed out that council minutes are available to know what has been discussed. “We’re nearing the end.”
Councilmember Chuck Guffey said West U is not the only city in Harris County that is dealing with these problems.
“You realize this restrictor was put in because some people want to protect those neighbors downstream from us,” Guffey said. “You say ‘oh the heck with them, I don’t care,’ but that’s not the right attitude. We want to make sure that we’re not creating a problem for someone else.”
Councilmember George Boehme said the city can’t just write a check to make the restrictor go away.
“We need the help of the county,” Boehme said. “They hold the cards.”
West U resident says
If my reading of the various stories about this issue is correct, what Flood Control is requesting is stormwater detention in West U to regulate the additional flow through the improved channel (to protect downstream land from flooding as a result of that additional flow). That is not an unusual requirement by Flood Control and, in fact, is the requirement all over Harris County. (That leads me to wonder what the City’s engineers were thinking in this regard.) Isn’t there ROW along Poor Farm Ditch that is currently unused by the City because a handful of residents (who purchased their homes knowing that the easement existed, but rolled the dice) don’t want the City to use that ROW for drainage? Has the City ocnsidered constructing in-line detention in Poor Farm utilizing that ROW to satisfy Flood Control’s requirements? Before raising taxes for pretty street lights, “traffic calming devices”, and club-like exercise facilities, why hasn’t City Council fixed the basic infrastructure problems?